Cutting the Cord

I know this started out as a VMware blog, but there are so many people out there writing blogs about their VMware experiences faster and better than I have, that I haven’t felt there was anything for me to contribute. I have been doing some interesting things with HyTrust that I may add in at some point, but right now I want to delve into my experiences cutting the cable cord.

I grew up in a rural area of middle Tennessee. We didn’t have cable and my parents still don’t. People there have to rely on a dish for non network TV and whatever they can find, usually wireless hotspots, for internet. When I was a teenager and old enough to drive, I spent a lot of time in neighboring towns with friends that had cable. I thought it was the best thing ever. And in a lot of cases I still do.

So what changed? Verizon did. First they came in with FIOS. No more shared internet. Fiber Optic connection. Cue Tim “The Toolman” Taylor. So I got a lot of channels that I never watch, decently fast internet and away we went. Life was good. Then came the iPhone, then the kids and their iPads, then the Wii U, then Netflix, then my visiting parents and their tablets, then working from home. I obviously need more bandwidth. Time to upgrade and throw more money at Verizon. Except, Verizon changed their on demand. No longer did they feel I was smart enough to scroll through a list of shows alphabetically and choose the one I wanted. No, I no longer needed to be able to spell, they would just show me pictures and I could choose the show. They wanted a Netflix interface. Why stay with something your customers are happy with when you can copy someone else right? Only their copy was horribly slow, terribly inefficient and when I do find the show I wanted, a show that aired for free, but that I didn’t have space on my DVR to record, that show I have to pay for? All 13 episodes? Are you kidding me?

But wait, that’s not all. Then my contract runs out. Well it’s easy to renew right? I see the renewal notice on my Verizon login page, I go to it and they are raising my rate by $5. No big deal. Let me click on price details to make sure that includes everything. Wait what’s this?

The price goes up by another $69 after the first month, and I’m locked in for two years AND YOU HID THAT in a drop down?????

Alright screw this. Time to cut the cord. I bought an Apple TV because we are an Apple family and started downloading and subscribing to apps so that I can get most of what I watch now. Not all, but most. More on that later. Now back to Verizon. I call them up, because you can’t drop your triple play online, and tell them I’m going internet only. “No, please don’t leave us” they say. But I must. “Let us reduce your price.” they say. Ok, tell me what you’ve got. They try a couple of times and finally offer me what I have now for $138. Hmm, that’s less than I am paying now. Let me think about that. But I want faster internet. Well, that will be an extra $40. Still not bad. Thinking, thinking.. then the death knell. “I see that your Premium package is running out in a couple of months,” he says. “If you want to continue to watch Game of Thrones that will cost you another $40”. Nope, not going to do it. Just give me gig internet. “Ok, that’s $149”. I say, “but your website says “$79”. “Oh, that’s only for new subscribers.” So I’ve been a loyal customer who hasn’t missed a payment in over 4 years, and my reward is price gouging? “But all the carriers do that, ” says the voice on the other line. But that’s the thing, Verizon, I don’t want you to be like everyone else, I want you to be better than that. That’s why I chose you in the first place. Good thing I can get Comcast in my area. They don’t have Gig in my area yet, but I’m sure it will be there. In the meantime I get 200Mb from Comcast delivered Friday. We will see how it goes from there.